🍁 Flylady November — Slow Days, Warm Drinks, and Shiny Sinks (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[Alwayslearning25]

Well, here we are — darker evenings, the smell of woodsmoke in the air, and that slightly panicky feeling that Christmas is somehow next month. But fear not, lovely Flyladies — we’ve got this (mostly).

This thread is our little corner of calm amongst the chaos — a place to cheer each other on, share small wins, and occasionally moan about the state of the laundry mountain. Whether you’re shining your sink for the first time or just trying to keep the kitchen table visible for more than an hour, you’re in good company.

The Flylady system is all about baby steps — 15 minutes at a time, routines that mostly stick, and being kind to ourselves when life happens (because it always does). Pop in, post your list, or just lurk with a cuppa — everyone’s welcome.
Let’s make November about cosy corners, tidy-ish rooms, and gentle progress — before December sweeps in with tinsel and mince pies.
Kettle’s on. Who’s flying today? ☕🕯️🧺

This is a long running thread, but we are a friendly bunch and all are welcome to join in.
Do NOT sign up for the Flylady emails - it's an excessive amount sent every day.
There are Baby Steps for starting out, add one thing at a time to start good habits and routines.
There are 5 zones that we will rotate through, don't worry about finishing it all this month, it'll come around again next month! Flylady is NOT about perfectionism!
Zones:

1. Entryway, porch and dining room
2. Kitchen
3. Bathroom and one other room
4. Master bedroom
5. Living room

Daily missions: each day of the week has a different mission.

• Monday: Home Blessing (or as we call it, home bleugh)
• Tuesday: plan & play
• Wednesday: anti-procrastination
• Thursday: errand day
• Friday: clean car & purse out a week. It's also date night (with your significant other, or friends, or yourself!)
• Saturday: family fun day
• Sunday: renew your spirit

Common acronyms we use:

• LOL: load of laundry (washing is certainly NOT funny!)
• DW: dishwasher, we are not rotating wives by any means, although an extra pair of hands could come in handy sometimes 😆
• LMS: lose/lost my shit
• DNLMS: did not lose my shit

There are more, feel free to ask us to explain something. I'll try to update links every day, although if you can, it's worth downloading the app, you can even have it send you notifications (although I only have it for when the zones change). You can also modify the tick lists to suit your home & lifestyle. Links are below 👇 if I happen to not add links in time, they do update at midnight for you. Well, they should but there is some technical difficulties on their end while they update the website. You can also check out the Facebook page Zones: https://www.flylady.net/d/zones/ Baby Steps: https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/

Hi @LadyIrony there have been a lot of Fledglings living with neurodivergent conditions on these threads over the years, either themselves, family members or both, it does add another layer of difficulty to running the house IMO. I signed up for the emails about a week ago and really wouldn’t bother, I am getting about three a day, the main one with the daily missions etc is VERY long indeed and the actual missions are right at the end. The rest is either twee testimonials or adverts for her products and I would definitely avoid those because I suspect the whole operation is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy or already gone and just sending out auto emails.

We do our best to post all the daily things on here, the babysteps, missions and monthly / daily habits. As you know it is all about building those routines.

Morning, we are m oving onto the master bedroom this week. Our mission for today, is to spend 15 mins under the bed decluttering. I do need to do this as it’s where I stash Christmas presents.

Monday’s daily habit is Home Blessing, where we spend 10 minutes or so on each of emptying bins, dusting, changing beds, running the vac round etc.

Our babystep is setting a specific time to go to bed and sticking to it. I’m not very good at this being something of a night owl.

We missed babystep 15 on Sat which is to add making your bed to your morning routine. I prefer to just turn ours back to air for the day as we get up and are off out of the house pretty quickly, it still looks better than just leaving it and I don’t have cushions or similar. do what works for you.

All the babysteps are listed here.
https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/

Yesterday I decided to give our stair carpet a proper blitz. It gets vacuumed but evey now and then I noticed that isn’t really cutting it as we have cats, so we have one of those runnber brushes and I gave it a good going over with that before vacuuming, including it’s skirting boards and it looks lovely and new this morning.

Don’t forget also that Noveber’s focus is menu planning. I did that on Saturday plus the big food shop. I am starting to feel back on top of things now after a prolonged period of disruption due to all the needs of the extended family and it is a relief.

Morning, DH and DS are on the sofa today with man flu. I say that because DD and I haven't got it, but maybe that's to come. I am sneezing and have a mild headache. They're both quite feverish and watching cartoons. I am all out of routine having walked the dog, normally what DH does. But school run was easier without DS in tow. Now Todos
Rotate DW, clean down kitchen
Make soup for lunch
Get out in the garden as it's so sunny.

Also laundry... Put it away, hang up washing currently in machine cleaning and put another load on.

@HazelNuttyElf I'm sorry to read that about your DD's cat, hope she's OK.
I play guitar and sing in a little band, we perform mainly in care homes which I really enjoy. Plus I go to open mics and just play for my own tastes and pleasure.

@EnchantingDecoration I have to use one of those rubber brushes on my stairs and the dogs aren't even allowed on carpet areas. Bit embarrassing really. Stairs hoovering is supposed to be DPs job. But I've given up reminding him.
I did them Christmas week when he was ill, then I got ill, and it was over six months until I caved and did them again.

Not much to report here, I've got a very small amount of stuff to get rid off. I've now had 3 people not bother to turn up for the TV I'm trying to give away which is really frustrating.

I'm planning another wardrobe cull. Don't know what's going on with my body but I'm piling weight on by the day. Anything that doesn't fit and would be cheap to replace is going in the charity bag.
Anything that I really like and would be expensive to replace I'll hang onto a bit longer.

Yestadas
Rotated dishwasher.
Hung up washing then brought it in at the end of the day.
Made chicken and rice dinner.
Cleaned the sink before bed

Didn't: make soup - had tinned soup for lunch.
Put away laundry
Get out in the garden, but did take DS to the park because he perked up, but he went down the side a few times, otherwise wanted to sit in the buggy. Was nice to get in the fresh air with all the autumn leaves.

Morning all, I forgot to say yesterday, sorry to hear about your DD’s DCat @HazelNuttyElf . I hope your visit brought some comfort. At times I have found communication with my DD to be a bit non-existent in the teenage years and the cats have been a very useful conduit to keep the dialogue open even when we don’t talk about much else she is always happy to talk about the cats. She asked for regular cute photos when she went to uni.

@CherryogDog I’m having problems with my weight too, I was at least doing well with exercise but even that has stopped more or less with all the support my parents need just now I have got out of my routines completely and need to reverse it all somehow,

@Alwayslearning25 glad you managed to get out yesterday, it was a beautiful day here and I wast stuck in an office all day. Might try and get out for a walk this lunchtime. Hope your boys are better today and you don’t get ill too.

So, today is Tuesday, which is plan and play day. My play is going to choir practice tonight, we are at peak busy time of the year with several Christmas events coming up. Planning seems to mostly consist of parent-admin at the moment, I need to phone a couple more care homes.

Today’s babystep is to read Flylady’s 11 Commandments, https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/flyladys-11-commandments/

Our mission today is to attack the clothes pile. I have been tackling DD’s clothes piles, somehow she seems to have left as many here as she has taken to uni and I am spending a bit of time every evening sorting her room out (she doesn’t like throwing stuff away so it is very cluttered and hard to keep tidy).

I didn’t get to under the bed yesterday, after work I had to pop to Sainsburys, have dinner, talked to our neighbour for 15 mins, take DH and DS somewhere and bring them back again later, finish my online training (school governor) and try and sort out why DS’s phone isn’t working, needs a new SIM card. Fortunately I remember this morning where I put the random spare one I got for another reason a few months ago so he can switch when he wakes up. But I did manage to sweep andmop the kitchen and bathroom floors which badly needed it.

@EnchantingDecoration speaking of weight, as soon as I fall off the lifting weights wagon, bingo wings appear out of nowhere. I only had a thin sweatshirt on last night, and there's a pile of coats now on my bedroom floor that feel like straight jackets.
Bit depressing 😕
Swept my hard floors yesterday, washed some towels and the bath mat.
The bath mat that I took downstairs a week ago and left on the floor by the washing machine. And waited to see how long it would be for it to occur to DP to wash it. I caved after a week 😄

DD brought her cat here and took her to the vet yesterday. She's having a tough time with it, but decided to head home afterwards, instead of staying here. She wanted to see her kitten back home and figured she might be confused and need extra loves. So I didn't get to see DD after all. She did pick up DS from school, a little early, so he could be with her. She also had her best friend stay with her last night, so she wasn't alone.

To dos:
☕️ laundry
☕️ hair appt
☕️ vacuum
☕️ mop
☕️ bleach bathrooms
☕️ wash shower curtains
☕️ meal plan
☕️ grocery shopping
☕️ appt with financial advisor at DHs work, to plan for retirement (we've got a while to go, but it'll be good to have a plan)
☕️ finish milk chocolate truffles
☕️ start putting orders together
☕️ throw away pumpkins, at least some of them, as they are starting to rot on my front porch. I really hope some are okay to stay out another week, I want them out for Thanksgiving! That's next Thursday.
☕️ put outside Christmas lights up (might not get done today as I've got a lot to do)

Ta das:
🍁 took DS to school, extra early (left the house at 6:30am), as he's planning on being part of leadership in band
🍁 1st lol washed and in dryer
🍁 2nd lol in washer
🍁 put away all clean clothes that were in the basket (they get folded as they get pulled out of the dryer, so they don't wrinkle - as I don't iron anymore!)
🍁 read some of The Christmas Chronicles, but I'm so far behind, it's not even funny! Read it while drinking my coffee, so was a nice start to my day.

Quick morning post - today's babystep is slow down and use your timer. As opposed to rushing about like a headless chicken. Timer, one task, stop. Also today one of the most bleugh testimonials on the Flylady website. https://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-19/

Today's mission is to clean off our nightstands. I must admit I blew dust off mine last night, need to get a damp cloth and clean it properly

I don't know about nightstands, but I've got 5 books, 2 varieties of throat sweets, a jumper, dressing hown and small throw on the spare side of my bed. Never know what I might need in the middle of the night 😁
I've got a relatively free day today, and I'm hoping DP will help me pull everything out from under the stairs for me to have a cull. It's the only "junk" area in my house. I don't know how feasible it is to turn it into a better storage area, it's not in a hallway, just at the end of a narrow dead space.

Okay, good morning Flyers! I have managed to get all the summer clothes in bags under the bed, the air conditioner is tucked away and I had to empty my Dyson Hoover twice just doing the front bit of my bedroom.
I am going to wipe down the Window frames and window ledges today and try and tidy my nightstand!
My nightstand is more of a death stand.. a nemesis If you will. However, I am hoping it will shame my husband into cleaning his nightstand which he seems to think is part of his office! All the cables end up in a heap there.
I also want to make a start on the Christmas cards! I know they fall out of Favour with lots of people, but I like them!

I did almost everything yesterday that I was planning on! I do still need to finish the truffles, get my orders sorted out, and put up the outside Christmas lights - we are going to do the last one this weekend, before the weather turns really cold next week.
I also started some Christmas shopping yesterday, so I'm feeling a bit better for starting.

I do need to get our bedside tables wiped down, I will try to get to it after work.

I just realised I haven't been adding the Christmas missions this week! I'm sorry! I'll go see what they are and add them shortly..

doyathink I still do some Christmas cards, not many, but it's a way I can get some pictures out to family.

Christmas missions so far this week:
🎄 27 boogie fling around the house - grab a rubbish bag and fill it up as you walk around the house. Throw away any rubbish you come across. I will add to this one - grab a box or empty laundry basket, put things in there that are out of place and put them all away as you go

🎄 plan & play - look through your gift list and see if there's anyone you need to mail gifts to. Get those gifts ready to be mailed so they aren't delivered late. Make sure you have ordered those gifts that you need to send and that you have all the packaging you need. The play part of this is to set aside 15 minutes for just you. Or you could plan lunch with a friend.

🎄 anti-procrastination day check to see what Christmas cards you have that you could use this year. You may not need to buy any, or you may have used up what you had. Address 5 cards each day until you have them all done. Honestly, I like to get all of mine done in one go, I have a hard time starting something and not finishing it!

Thank you for this @HazelNuttyElf
I just found the biggest carrier bag of Christmas cards ever lurking in a drawer. I’ve been buying them in charity shops, so that’s a result! I don’t need to buy any more Christmas cards for the next two or three years! I do, however, need to write the bloody things! Need to make sure there are lots of photos printed to send out as well.

I can't get MN to open properly on my ipad so I'm on my phone.

Still send cards here, been to the library where they have a charity stall (I support the local charity shops at other times so like to find charities for my cards that I haven't supported during the year). @HazelNuttyElf I've had the Christmas Chronicles since the year it was published but now also have the audio version and mainly use that now, Nigel's narration is very soothing.

Today's babystep is to do a load of laundry a day, make it part of your routines.

Our mission is to declutter our dressers, any empty packets or bottles, tidy it, dust it.

Ds is still stick, had a temperature through the night, is playing now. I'm off work. DH is back at work. I feel bad for taking him on the school run in the snow yesterday. DH was still off work sick so he could have stayed home but he seemed better was excited to get out in it. He didn't even want to go in the buggy which was my first plan, but he's 3 now so old enough to be out of it. He liked walking until some landed on his face then he cried and screamed the whole way with me carrying him, he had a winter coat on but I was aware his legs were getting cold. His waterproof trousers are at nursery. After that his cold is worse.

Theoretically I could get a lot done round the house as ds energy is not all back but I'm just unmotivated. I did a 15 minute timer but as soon as distracts me I struggle to get into it. Maybe I will in his nap time.

Sorry, checking in late today. Hope DS is feeling better today @Alwayslearning25 .

So, Friday is the day we clean out our bag and car and date night.

Today is our last day in the master bedroom and the mission is to make ourt beds, turning mattress and taking extra care with crisp corners etc. My sheets are flapping on the lin as I write.

Today’s babystep is to read the Ask Flylady section on the website but when I clicked the link it was a Thanksgiving special which isn’t applicable to most of us (probably just @HazelNuttyElf . Maybe concentrate on your routines for today, have you written them somewhere? I never have, maybe I should 🤔

Thanks @EnchantingDecoration
I hope your little one is feeling better @Alwayslearning25
I’ve been stuck in an online conference today. Death by Zoom call.
I tidied my dresser yesterday and the shame of that dust was huge!
What do I do with Pandora gift bags and boxes?
I’ve got to pick up crap in one more corner of the room and I’m done. Also change and make the bed!
5 Christmas cards will be addressed today and for the next few days… will sell a kidney and buy 2nd class stamps.

Hi 👋 everyone, just checking in from the low motivation corner.
Been pottering, putting LOLs away, light tidying.

I've got a whole day to spend on tidying, but as luck would have it I've woken up with a migraine.
Taken my meds and will muddle through.
Plan is to clean my bedroom and change bedding.
Tidy dining room hotspot which is in danger of becoming permanent 😄
LOLs.
And with DP's help clear out the under stairs cupboard.

I've been AWOL for a few days. It's been busy here at casa de Hazel! I even left work a little early a couple of days this week.
I got my treat orders finished, have a few of everything left over. I just need to deliver the orders now, although did get one mailed already.

Last night I got some lights up in the house, ready for Thanksgiving. I don't usually put any up until Christmas, but I wanted to make it feel cosy and add some soft light to the dining room especially. I will try to add some pictures later today.

To dos today:
☕️ thaw chicken for dinner tonight
☕️ meal planning
☕️ grocery shopping
☕️ put outside lights up (either today or tomorrow)
☕️ bathe dogs
☕️ bleach bathrooms
☕️ wipe down bedside tables (no I did not get them done this week and they need it!)
☕️ lots of cooking for dinner tonight, it's our turn to host ILs
☕️ handwash dishes
☕️ rotate DW
☕️ clean up as I go in the kitchen
☕️ clear out fridge! I did do this the other day 🤢, but there's a couple things in there that still need to go

doyathink for those gift bags and boxes, can they be used for gift giving (could become a funny exchange over the years to see who re-uses them)? Either that or donate them.
I still haven't pulled out my Christmas cards yet to see what I have. Realistically I don't see it happening until after Thanksgiving.

Cherry I hope your migraine goes away soon!

ED I should go and read the ask flylady (Thanksgiving special), but I'm not sure I have the time for that right now! I don't want to end up down a rabbit hole.
Thank you for keeping us in line this month, I clearly wouldn't have been able to do it!

Christmas missions I missed:
🎄 check your mailing supplies - do you have the stamps you need for mailing cards? Boxes for mailing gifts? Add those things to your shopping list and buy them now so you have them on hand.
Also make sure you're adding something for Christmas dinner on your list (or snacks/treats), to spread out the cost and avoid a mad dash at the last minute, when things could be out of stock! Of course some things have to wait until closer to the time. I actually did this! I ordered brandy snaps from Amazon (not in the stores here), and they should be showing up soon!

🎄 gather your bills make sure you know where all your bills are so they get paid. Check your account balance, if you record all your spending, make sure it's up to date. Check your gift list, make sure you're sticking to your budget.